Spreading our roots

As crazy as it is, Benjamin will be three years old this year! I swear it was just yesterday that labor began after Thanksgiving dinner! How time is quickly flying. As he turns three this year, we are quickly realizing that he will need to go to school. As much as I want my baby boy to stay home with me forever, I know he needs to spread those little wings and enter the big scary world of kindergarten when he turns five. Which, hello is two years away!!!  Que panic attack!

We have two choices for schools, public or private. There are positives and negatives to each. The reality, we cannot afford private schools. So that leaves us with public schools. The schools system in Jefferson County has 'good' schools and not so good schools. To get into those 'good' schools you have to live in the area of that school. I've known people who move each time their son/daughter goes onto elementary, middle and high schools so that they can get into that 'good' school. I'm not sure I'm up for that much moving around. 

And it's not just about the schools, though, it is what is getting us thinking. We also want some room to stretch out. Granted we have a nice size back yard, a perfect little house, and awesome neighbors, but a little breathing room would be nice too. An acre or two, a small home similar to ours now, Alan would die for a garage with a workshop, and I would love to have a large garden where we can grow enough food to freeze/can for winter. Because lets face it, these Vaesa kids LOVE to eat. And the grocery bill is getting more and more expensive! We are obviously in the 'looking' phase of this process, and looking at Oldham or Nelson County. So if you live in either of those counties, please let me know what you like and don't like about where you are.

Backyard provides hours of swinging for the little Lady

Our backyard to great for riding a scooter down the big hill!

So begins the search of our next home...I really can't imagine leaving here, our first home, where we remodeled pretty much every room, where babies were brought home to, where babies learned to walk, run, and begun to ride bikes. All in three short years. But I've gotten quite attached.

Life with 3u3

Potty Training and Cloth Diapering

Two weeks after I came home from the hospital, Benjamin decided that now would be a great time to work on those potty training skills. I knew he was getting close to being potty trained and was actually hoping until after our Florida vacation to attack this next milestone. But Mr. B is in charge and he was ready!


It wasn't easy with a newborn and Miss Meredith who is very interested in what was going on in the bathroom, but we managed and after a few days of Benjamin being stark naked around the house, he was potty trained! I was amazed at how easily it went! He is still in a diaper during nap time and bedtime and I am not sure how we tackle that, but a friend told me it may not be until he is 4 to wake up when he has to go. There are times when he wakes up from his nap and is dry, so we are getting close! Which is good because I was having anxiety over the thought of trying the big boy bed thing again! I'm good if he wants to stay in his crib for life!

And from potty training to cloth diapering, Andrew now fits into the BumGenius size small diapers!

1 month old.
 Side note: not sure why the picture is showing up all dotted like ?

Welcome Little Prince!

Sunday, March 4th the day before our little one was due, we went to church (where our wonderful priest said a blessing over me and ensured everything would go perfectly tomorrow) and then we hit the home and garden show. That evening after the kids were in bed, Alan and I packed our bags and set the alarm for 4am.

Around 11pm, because we just couldn't sleep, we looked out the window and saw snow! At 4am on our baby's birthday this is what the world looked like:

5 inches of snow!

 Hard to believe that our 'spring' baby was going to be born on a snowy day! As we stepped out of the house to head to the hospital the snow made the world so quiet and peaceful; a perfect start to the day.

At the hospital, I got my blood drawn, an IV started and monitors on. The anesthesiologist came in to talk to me about getting my spinal. I told him that last time I got sick during the delivery, so he ordered Zofran via IV before the surgery. Then Dr. L came into give me the 'game plan' for the delivery and I was set to go!

 Before I went back to the OR the family came in and we got one last picture as a family of four.

I was wheeled back to the OR and things got started. I got my spinal, which didn't hurt at all! I guess with the head anesthesiologist doing it, it's not going to hurt! I felt great during surgery, much better than I did with Benjamin and Meredith! I felt some tugging and pulling and some pain in my chest/shoulder (which is completely normal) and Alan was doing much better than last time! As they were working Dr. L was giving me a play-by-play: "here comes it's head" "it's shoulders are out!" "this one has paws, not hands! They are huge!" And then finally what I have waited 39 weeks for, Dr. Link says, "It's a boy!" And then I cried! It was the best surprise of my life! 

Alan ran right over to him and watched as they cleaned him up and weighed him. He rang in at 8lbs 8oz. 21 inches long! Big boy! And a loud set of lungs! Alan and I decided to name him Andrew Michael. After I got to see him, Alan and one of the nurses (who happened to be the same nurse that helped deliver Meredith!) took Andrew out to see the family. I heard the reactions were priceless! Everyone was excited!

 After I spent some time in the recovery room and got to breastfeed, I was wheeled up to mother/baby unit. By the time I got to my room, everything was spinning and I was throwing up. I received another round of Zofran, but that didn't help. Everyone was up in the room and I was throwing up and Andrew was crying. Alan, his mom and dad took the kids home and my mom stayed with me. I don't remember much of the day because of being so sick. I saw more of the emison basin than I did of my son! But I was told that after two shots of phenergan, I finally stopped throwing up. My body temperature was really low, 96* and didn't come back up until later that evening. However, I felt hot and kept throwing the blankets off of me. They said if my body temperature dropped anymore then they would have to start putting warm blankets on me since the internal organs don't function well when your body is that cold. I could hear people who came to see us, but couldn't keep my eyes open! I was pretty miserable! But so very thankful for my mom, Kim, my grandma, and my sisters who were taking care of Andrew or myself! The Dr. said that I got sick because of the medicine in the spinal. When I had Meredith, I was sick as well, but don't remember it being this bad or lasting this long!

Finally around 9pm; 13 hours after surgery, I was feeling much better and got to see Andrew! Alan stayed with me that first night and after that, it was smooth sailing. I felt great and was up and walking around the nurses' station. Andrew and I were discharged Friday and got home around lunch time.

dressed and ready to go home!

Life as a family of five has been wonderful! It's been crazy and challenging, but to watch Benjamin and Meredith interact with Andrew it's worth it!

There have been some funny stories to tell since we have been home, that I will share as soon as I get a little more time! Think potty training a 2 year old with a 1 year old who tries to dump out the potty and a screaming newborn!

I can see the finish line!

I feel like I am in that last stretch of a triathlon. I have completed the swim and bike portion and I am almost finished with the run. Everything hurts, the legs are cramping, my back is aching, I am tired but with just two more weeks to go I can see the finish line! It's that part of the race when despite all the pain and tiredness you can't give up now! The end is in sight....

Just two more weeks...where did this pregnancy go?

Homemade Coffee Creamer

One thing that I love is my coffee creamer (and so does the husband) and all the different flavors it comes in! However, paying almost $4 for coffee creamer (the store brand is not the same as the band names!) was making me wonder if I could make it cheaper. Plus have you ever read the list of ingredients in that stuff? It's not even made with milk! So I set off for Google to see what coffee creamer recipes I could come up with. I found two that I thought we may like and made both.

The first one I made was from Deliciously Organic. Carrie has a fabulous website full of wonderful recipes that I have tried and loved! I made the cinnamon strudel coffee creamer which consisted of the following ingredients:

• 1 cup whole milk
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 4 tbs maple syrup
• 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon 
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp of almond extract 

However, I didn't have all of the ingredients. So I improvised and came up with this recipe:

• 1 cup whole milk
• 1 cup half and half creamer
• 4 tbs maple syrup
• 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tbs vanilla almond milk 

Instructions: whisk together milk, cream, syrup and cinnamon in a pan over medium heat. When the mixture began to steam, remove from heat and add in the vanilla and almond extracts. Then strain through a mesh sieve (I used 2 layers of cheese cloth) if you don't do this, the ground cinnamon will sink to the bottom of the creamer. Pour into a glass jar and store in the fridge. 

I couldn't wait to try my creamer the next morning, it smelled so good! It was delicious, but thin. If you ever noticed the store bought coffee creamer, it's a thicker consistency, this was thin and I wasn't used to it! So I tried the other recipe I found using a different base. 

This second recipe came from The Joy of Clean Eating. I have been following Sarah and Kristy's blog for about a year now and have also made some wonderful foods! Here is their recipe for their base coffee creamer: 

• 1 1/4 cups of condensed milk
• 1 cup milk 
• 1-2 tbs sweetener (optional)
• 1/2 tsp thickener (such as cornstarch, arrow root, etc) this is also optional. 

Homemade Condensed Milk

So I dug through the pantry and found a can of condensed milk, added 1 cup of milk, and 1/2 tsp of cornstarch (hoping this would help the 'thinness' I experienced in the last batch). Mixed ingredients in a pan over medium heat, let simmer, removed from heat and then added in 1 tbs of vanilla extract. Mixed together and poured into a glass jar and set in the fridge. I opted out of the sweetener, since the condensed milk seemed sweet enough. 

The next morning, I eagerly tried my new creamer and fell in love. The thickness was just right! It is a bit sweet, so next time I make it I will add more milk to help dilute the condensed milk more. Also on The Joy of Clean Eating they have a recipe for homemade condensed milk using a 1/2 cup of raisins and a cup of milk. I have yet to get this to taste right. Each time I make it, my coffee tastes like raisins, not what I'm going for! If I get it right, I'll be sure to post it!


My Choice: So after trying both, I would say add the 1/2 tsp of cornstarch to Deliciously Organic's recipe to make it a bit thicker. However, if you are looking for a quick recipe, The Joy of Clean eating is much quicker (if you just use the canned condensed milk). I am also on the lookout for a powdered version of coffee creamer. So stay tuned!

Homemade Laundry Detergent

So with number 3 quickly approaching I've come to the sharp realization that I will not be able to just run up to the store to get something. I am going to have to be a bit more organized. So I thought my answer was my free subscription to Amazon Mom; however, with their changes I'm not sure I can justify the $79 a year for free shipping. So I've started thinking about ways to make my life a bit more simpler, a bit more green, and more cost effective. Less is more, right?

We do a lot of laundry around here, with a 2 year old and a 1 year old, plus a husband who works in the concrete industry....the laundry piles are intense. Not to mention washing cloth diapers every other day. Tide was my go-to-detergent, never doubted it's ability to clean. However; the price tag was getting to be a bit much. Roughly $25 for 120 loads, which lasted us about 10 weeks (we do on average 12 loads a week, that's not counting cloth diapers).

So I tried Target's brand and it seemed to work and the price was better at roughly $8 for 64 loads. I figured the real test would be when spring time rolled around and we had to deal with getting grass stains out. However, when the entire family came down with the stomach virus, it got the clothes clean, but left the puke smell in my babies clothes and blankets. This is not cool. So back to the drawing board to find a cheap detergent that I could easily have access to without paying for shipping.

My internet search lead me to making your own laundry detergent. I used the recipe from two different blogs, DIY Naturally and the The Eco-Friendly Family.

• 1 bar of shaved bar soap (Ivory, ZOTE, or Fels-Naptha)
• 1 cup of borax 
• 1 cup of washing soda 
• 1/2 cup oxiclean 

The ingredients, minus the oxiclean

Grated Ivory soap

1 bar of Ivory 

Everything mixed in!

Stored in a container, with a tablespoon. Later, when I made four more batches,
I  put it in  two large, clean coffee containers

 I used Ivory, it was easy to find, but could only buy it in the 10 pack for about $5. Using a cheese grater I easily shaved the bar of soap to nothing. Then mixed in the rest of the ingredients. When mixing it, I noticed it had the best smell, it smelled clean, crisp, and fresh! I put the detergent in a sealed container that I had. When doing laundry, it calls for 1-2 tablespoons (depending on the size of the load). This recipe makes 32-64 loads depending on how many tablespoons you use. DIY Naturally does the math and it works out to be roughly $2.98 for 32-64 loads. Now that is my kind of price!

I did the laundry and added a tablespoon to a medium sized load of my babies' clothes, they came out clean and smelling great! I was so excited about the end result that I immediately went and made a total of five batches!

UPDATE: I just ran out of the laundry detergent that I made! So those five bathes lasted me 7 months!!!!